Japanese game publisher Shueisha Games announced that their upcoming roguelite deckbuilder ANTHEM#9 will release on February 5 on Steam. The title, which won the grand prize in Shueisha Game Creators Camp Game BBQ vol.2 No Demo Division, is the debut work of indie developer koeda.
According to the game’s Steam Store page, koeda has no previous experience in the industry and isn’t a programmer. However, entering his 30s, he realized that he didn’t want to give up on his dreams of becoming a game creator. So, he picked up a beginner’s guide and started learning about game development from scratch. “This is the first time that I’ve ever taken part in game development. Originally, I was only just a huge fan of games, but when I entered my 30s, I realized I actually wanted to make them. So I studied hard, night and day, and began developing,” koeda said in one of his previous interviews with AUTOMATON.
ANTHEM#9 is a strategic puzzle roguelite in which you have to match three-color gems in order to activate skills, chain combos and take down your opponents. As an agent of ANTHEM#9, “an international secret organization that seeks to maintain global stability,” you’ll have to face (and destroy) everyone who stands in the way of the world’s balance.
At the start of each turn, you are dealt random gems, and each of your skills requires a specific sequence of gems in order to be activated. So, for example, if you have a skill that’s triggered when you arrange gems in a red-blue sequence, a skill that’s triggered when you arrange gems in a blue-green sequence, and a skill that’s triggered when you arrange gems in a green-red sequence, arranging the gems as red-blue-green will set off all three of the skills.
Successfully connecting combos increases damage dealt, and the game also introduces an enemy stamina system which lets you cancel attacks that come your way when depleted. Of course, as per the conventions of the roguelite genre, while combating enemies, you’ll be making your way through randomly generated dungeons and collecting Attack Skills and Blessings. Building your skill deck and fine-tuning your gem-matching strategy accordingly will be essential to churning out big combos and emerging victorious.
ANTHEM #9 will release on February 5, 2026 on Steam. A demo version is currently available
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